Wake Up Alone

If Elena thought she was playing a game of cat and mouse before, the next week showed her clearly that she'd been playing on easy.

Klaus kept showing up and, almost as if emboldened by his one night in her bed, he would appear at her door almost every evening. Though it was never empty handed. He always showed up with something delicious for dinner or flowers. Coffee and pastries for breakfast. Sometimes late at night with dessert. Whatever it was, it was always tempting. Elena eyed him like a field mouse would an owl or any other predator. She was perpetually perched in the corner waiting for his smile to fade right as he announced some evil plan.

He did everything in an attempt to seduce her except talk to her about that night and Elena was ashamed to admit how disappointed she felt. It was as if something fundamental had changed between them but he had neglected to tell her. It felt so different than with Elijah, where nothing ever changed. She'd thought before on how she'd valued that in him, that he was her constant. But this, with Klaus, was so new and exciting. He was a wildfire that incinerated all her prior conceptions about what attraction could mean.

He found any reason to touch her; handing off a take-out box and brushing her fingertips with his, or sitting close enough so that the edge of his thigh just barely touched hers, or upgrading their goodbyes to enveloping hugs. Those were the hardest as she felt the muscles just under his shirt pressed against her body. His arms wrapped around her waist and she was pulled into him like an undertow. Breathing techniques were not cutting it, each time he touched her she felt close to drowning. She couldn't go to Bonnie or anyone with this. She had stopped calling Elijah to remind herself of the dangerous game she was playing with Klaus. She wasn't sure she wanted to be reminded anymore. Living in this reality with Klaus was too appealing. She willfully slipped in further.

She thought about calling Caroline who would have so loved to talk about matters of the heart, but recently she'd been weird on calls recently. She broke up with Tyler, finally, just months ago. Not that he'd necessarily been bad towards the end. They'd just grown into such different people. It must have been, Elena acknowledged, hard to let go of someone when nothing was precisely wrong, but also nothing was exactly right either. Elena thought that there might be something between her and Stefan, but it was a suspicion based on nothing concrete. She wasn't brave enough yet to outright ask. Stefan was a thorn in her heart still. One she was too afraid to touch.

So, she called Jenna instead.


Her aunt looked gorgeous and glowing. Her bump was in full view as Jenna carefully sat down in the armchair. This would be her and Ric's first child and Elena knew how excited they both were about it. She was excited too, to be an aunt finally. Seeing Jenna grow her family made Elena feel as if she hadn't ruined her family. She had uprooted them but those roots were not destroyed. The plant still thrived.

"Elena, hun, how are you?" Elena smiled back as wide as she could, knowing it wouldn't quite reach her eyes but hoping technology would be on her side. It was and Jenna didn't notice.

"I'm doing good. How are you and Ric?"

"Oh ya know, good. Tired. All the time. It's shockingly difficult to sleep when your stomach is housing a whole other person." Elena faked shock. "Ric and Jeremy still go out occasionally to patrol for vampires. I'd rather he didn't, but you know Ric."

This was a long-running argument that Elena knew to stay out of even though she understood. John Gilbert was more of a researcher where Alaric Saltzman was the fighter. While John guided the family from state to state, Ric protected the family and taught Jeremy and Elena how to fight. Jenna learned some self-defense, but Jeremy and Elena were hungry for a true education that Ric was more than willing to give. They always made sure that whatever city or town they landed in would be safe from at least that supernatural element within weeks of their arrival.

"You know they will be fine. Jeremy is so freaky strong now. They've got each other's back."

"I mean obviously I know. I can't help worrying though. I'm already nervous enough about being a mom. I don't feel great with the idea of possibly doing it alone."

"Jenna, you will be a great mom. Look at how Jeremy and I turned out. And nothing bad is going to happen to Ric. You won't have to do this alone."

"I don't know how comforting that is, Elena. Jeremy is killing vampires every night in an effort to complete some tattoo none of us can see and you've been running from everything for years. Jeremy should be in art school or something and you should be a doctor. In Mystic Falls."

Elena's mouth set determinedly against her face. "While that is a nice idea that just isn't our lives, my life. You did the best you could with the wild circumstance we were thrown in. We are alive, Jenna. We have each other. You kept us together and safe and sometimes, that's all you can ask for."

"Well, sometimes it is okay to want more out of your life."

The two women talked for almost an hour centering mostly on the pregnancy and upcoming family plan, but Elena couldn't bring herself to tell Jenna about Klaus. It would be too complicated to even try to explain. Despite never having met him, Jenna was angry that she had to leave her town behind and she blamed him, rightly. She was grateful for her family, but it had been a lot to take in her young niece and nephew and then to add in the overwhelming truth of vampires and werewolves and witches. Well, Jenna didn't exactly enjoy talking about that part of her life. Elena wished her aunt a good night, but not before she tried to guilt Elena into calling her dad, John. That was surprising to her, Jenna never liked John before and she only barely tolerated him after they fled.

"I know. I know. I will. I promise." Elena had seen Ric as more of a dad since they had started running. She knew John was trying his best to be her dad, but it was always so awkward between the two of them. They both had so much to say, but the words never came. It was easier not to look too far beneath the surface with each other.


As compartmentalized as Elena tried to live her life, keeping her time with Klaus separate from her family and keeping Elijah unknown to both her friends and family, a couple nights later that artifice that was carefully built from omission and lies came crashing in on her. She should have known it was inevitable.

Elena and Klaus were enjoying each other's company at another bar, sitting outside on the patio near the fire pit. Elena had noticed how Klaus looked at her the last time when the shadows from the flames danced on her face and she had intentionally chosen the same spot again tonight. Totally part of her plan, but she was forgetting exactly what that was again. Definitely the plan and not because she wanted him to look at her like that again. Like she was the fire and he wanted to warm himself next to her.

She was laughing at something he said, likely teasing her for something ridiculous that had come out of her mouth.

"I absolutely refuse to believe that you prefer charcoal to oil. Oil is emotion and passion and layers. Charcoal is so…novice and flat." He snorted, only pretending at being bothered by her laughter.

This time, when he reached across the table to touch her hand, she didn't pull it back. She sunk into the feeling of him. She knew she shouldn't, but the thrill from his touch was becoming addictive. She relished how small her hand felt in his. She'd promised herself she'd go right to the precipice and have a quick peek over, but she would keep her feet planted firmly on the ground.

"Charcoal has its merits. Just because you don't prefer it, doesn't mean it isn't worthy. It is…highly adjustable."

"All that says to me is it is a medium for those who can't commit. I, on the other hand, am an expert at committing." The way his eyes flashed when he said that made her want to ask him other questions. Luckily, she was distracted.

A group of people passed by the table and someone called her name. The interruption had her scurrying far from the edge, slipping her hand out of his. She turned and it was a few of the people she'd hang out with in the few hours when she wasn't working or spending time with Klaus.


Elena made friends easily. She was charming and effervescent, refreshing and fun like a spiked lemonade in the summer sun. But she never made the kind of friends that she shared secrets with or let in to her life in any kind of meaningful way. Each time she moved felt like a cover and the people she met her alibis, filling in the spaces of her life to make her temporarily full until the next move.

She was the kind of friend that flit in and out of lives. Years later, they'd remark how fun that summer was with that one American girl.

You remember her? Vaguely.

But years from now, she would become just an impression of a person.


Adrian was the one who had called her name. He was tall, taller than Klaus. His arms and legs stretched impossibly long and his hair laid flat to his head. He seemed so hopeful until his eyes were drawn down to the table seeing her hand unwrap from his. Maria, just to his right, stepped forward and teased, "Is this man the reason we haven't been seeing our Elena around as much?"

She teased, but Klaus couldn't help correcting her in his head – my Elena. His hand tensed as he tried to re-capture hers and he was certain she'd noticed. She glanced down, but to his relief, she seemed almost pleased, allowing herself to be hooked to him again.

"Yes, Maria this is Nik. Nik, Maria. And Adrian." Elena made polite introductions, but dare not provide more information. She'd felt him to react and she knew better than to give him more information that was necessary.

To her surprise, Adrian stepped forward and reached out his hand. Klaus took it firmly and Elena noticed the weaker man flinch through the extra moments of the greeting, refusing to let go. Great, a pissing contest.

"You are still coming to Amalfi for your birthday, right?" Maria had clued in to the tension and went for a distraction.

Elena hadn't necessarily forgotten about the plans she made with the group almost a month ago during one wine-drunk night at Maria's house as she had hoped that they'd forgotten about it, about her.

Klaus took in this new information, assessing her reaction. As intimate as they'd become in their time together, he realized there was still so much she kept from him. Least of all her birthday. Klaus had been stalling with the new moon on the horizon. Instantly, he rationalized that a girl should always be able to celebrate her birthday. There would be other full moons. He could wait.

"Yes of course I am!" she enthused, actively avoiding Klaus's pointed gaze.

Maria didn't seem to notice it. "Wonderful! Well you should come too, Nik. The house we rented is big enough and the more the merrier for our girl's birthday." Maria squeezed Elena's shoulder and turned to walk back to the group. Adrian's eyes lingered for a moment on Klaus's hand as he held Elena's, thumb stroking her knuckles, before turning back to the group.

Elena watched the group walk away, refusing to look back at Klaus until he spoke. She felt strangely like a teenager getting caught for sneaking back into the house, drunk from some party. "So, you had a trip planned, sweetheart?"

"Well, yes sort of. I didn't think those were exactly real plans."

"Elaborate for me." He didn't appreciate how evasive she could be when he was desiring directness.

"I just thought they were more like 'wouldn't it be so fun do this' sort of plans that never actually happen," she explained. Klaus wasn't exactly sure what that meant. Any plans he made, he always followed through on. Elena had bent her hand into a loose fist over her mouth, her knuckles resting on her lips as she lightly pinched her bottom lip.

"So, if they'd reminded you out of my presence, would you have left me without a word?" It should have been a simple question, but she could peel back the layers of meaning like a tiramisu.

"Had I even remembered that I promised to go? I wouldn't just leave without even mentioning it to you. If you weren't here, I would have given them a last minute excuse to get out of it. I can still get out of it, Nik." He settled back into his chair, the answer seeming to set him at ease.

"I've a better idea," Klaus smirked, "When do we leave for the coast, love?"

Elena couldn't help thinking about the Cheshire Cat as Klaus smiled, guiding her straight into trouble. She'd been so good about finding reasons why he couldn't spend the night since she'd gotten sick. As much as she yearned for him, she knew it was a bad idea. She had a feeling that she couldn't hope to convince him not to follow her out of the country though. She looked back up and his lips were still curled up in a smile that could almost be a sneer.

Nope, no such luck. Not even one bit.


A/N: Aunt Jenna is one character I wish we'd gotten to see more. I wonder what kind of influence she might have had, had she lived longer. So, it was nice to imagine this life for her.